Washington Capitals annihilate the Penguins

The Washington Capitals completed a perfect D.C. sports day. After the Washington Football Team took down Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the city was eager to see what the Caps can do in the nightcap game. They not only beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, it was complete domination.

The Caps got a penalty at 3:08 when Daniel Sprong was called for holding Kris Letang. Despite this, the Caps would get a two on one shorthanded goal finished off by Martin Fehervary. Tom Wilson and Garnet Hathaway had the helpers and the goal came at 4:25.

At 14:05 the Caps doubled their lead with a slam dunk in front of the net for Garnet Hathaway. It was his third of the year and second straight game he scored after a two goal game on Friday night. It was assisted by Alex Ovechkin and Trevor Van Riemsdyk.

Jake Guentzel got the Penguins on the board at 18:40. 2-1 Caps would be the score after 20 with the Caps leading in shots 9-8. The Penguins also had Sidney Crosby back from COVID-19 protocol.

The Caps would add some insurance goals late in the second period. First it was a snapshot snipe from Sprong at 16:11 assisted by Lars Eller and Conor Sheary. It was Sprong’s third goal of the season.

Then the Caps added another at 18:36 with a snipe from the right face off circle from Sheary against his former team. Connor McMichael and Sprong had the helpers. It was also Sheary’s third of the season. 4-1 was the score after 40 with the Caps leading in shots 14-9.

The Caps would make it 5-1 at 4:43 with a shot up the middle from Evgeny Kuznetsov for his sixth goal of the season. Kuzy did the bird celebration. His goal was set up by a nice pass from Ovechkin.

Back to Crosby, he got away with a cheap shot on Fehervary. He wasn’t penalized nor fined by the league. But he was penalized for cross checking Kuznetsov at 9:15 in the third. Then the Caps scored a rare power play goal.

At 9:35 it came from none other than Tom Wilson for his fourth of the season. It was assisted by Kuznetsov and John Carlson. The Caps led in shots 9-8 in the third period and 32-25 overall.  Vitek Vanecek made 24 saves for a .960 save percentage.

The Caps gave the home fans a big win before going on a long west coast road trip. That road trip begins tomorrow at the Anaheim Ducks.